Wednesday, July 30, 2014

today i'd like to introduce you to andrea ament, a.k.a. legal miss sunshine, an event stylist, shop owner and blogger who is my latest crush on instagram. her gallery is a bright, happy collection of vintage and travel-inspired photos, and one that i love to follow. andrea was gracious enough to let me feature her shots here on the blog, and to answer a whole bunch of overly personal interview questions.

if that wasn't enough, she also generously offered to sponsor the very first giveaway here at avery street design! you can enter to win one of her gorgeous photography prints at the end of this post. (and can i just say to the winner: i am jealous!!)

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asd: you and i have only just met so i still feel like i have a lot of getting to know you to do. how would you answer the “who are you?” question in, like, three sentences? (yeah, i know, heavy guns out of the gate)!

LMS: Wow. This IS a big question and I think the answer changes so often as to where you are in your life. So currently, I guess I am: A non-practicing attorney who is in the process of starting an event planning/styling business with a blog and two Etsy shops on the side. I’m a wife with an amazing husband, a daughter/daughter-in-law to great parents, and I’m an only child, so my friends are my family. I’m also a traveler, a planner, a sometimes marathon runner, a picky eater, and a photographer.

LMS: Aw, thank you. I started my blog in May of last year and I guess I started it because the one thing my friend and I kept repeating while DIYing things for my wedding is that I should have a blog and I should be photographing/blogging about the wedding process. Also, I travel A LOT, and I like to share my travel photos, but I like to share my photos with more than just my friends on Facebook or in 2x2 squares on Instagram.

asd: what have you learned about yourself since starting a blog?

LMS: Currently, I think I am learning to find my voice. I think I’m pretty sarcastic and funny plus I cuss a lot in real life, but that isn’t as reflected in my blog, so I’m working more on writing in my own voice, regardless if it offends readers (or my mother-in-law). But don’t worry, I’ll keep it PG here!

asd: why did you join instagram?

LMS: I joined Instagram because it was the single thing I liked about Facebook all in one single feed: my friends photos showing me their current (or throwback Thursday) lives. Now Facebook is flooded with “BuzzKill” articles and quizzes, news articles, and memes. I originally only followed friends on IG, but now I follow mostly strangers who take beautiful photographs, and I love the voyeuristic snapshot into their lives.

asd: your pictures on instagram are so intriguing. what do you hope a picture of yours will convey to the viewer?

LMS: Boys used to tell me I was intriguing, but I have never heard that about my photographs! I would love to know what you find intriguing about them. I guess I hope my photographs convey a sense of adventure and fun and I hope that they inspire the viewer to go out and see the world and find the beauty in everyday objects like vintage signs, walls, senior living communities, etc.

asd: here’s why i say intriguing. they make you look closer and longer. they give you a glimpse but not the whole picture. they tell a story, but not all of it. there are so many pictures on instagram that are wonderful little shots of a greater whole, but they’re either too abstract (so you don’t know what it is), too boring (you know what it is and you don’t care) or too obvious (it gives away too much). i’m drawn to the pictures that give you a sense that you are somewhere else, while still making you wonder what the rest looks like. the appeal is a beautiful view; the intrigue is what’s outside of the peephole. this was the first picture i found of yours, and i stared at it for a long time, wondering what the full story was:

asd: the other reason your photos are intriguing to me is i often notice something on a second look that i didn't see right away: the fact that you and your husband are behind the sign, that you're sliding down the whale, or that the leisure world windows look like funhouse mirrors. i started to wonder if 'intriguing' was the wrong word, so i looked it up:

"to arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities; appeal strongly to; captivate."

and, yep, that nails it.

asd: speaking of things that fascinate you, what’s with you and flamingos?

LMS: They are pink! And awesome! And I love kitsch, so I love lawn flamingos. I’m hoping their popularity fad soon fades though. I’m predicting zebras, camels, and ostriches as the next popular animals.

23. But I did when he said he would buy me a sleep number bed. My sleep number is 20.

So most girls cry when their husband proposes to them, right? No. Not me. Not a hint of moisture in my eye. But my husband had been asking me for months if I would marry him, and my response was always “Maybe, we’ll see if you ever ask properly” meaning formally asking with a ring (I’m not a dummy, I listen to Beyonce!) So he finally asked, but he didn’t have a ring. He then excused himself for a moment and came back with a box and asked me if the box changed my mind. Well, I didn’t know what was in the box, so I told him “maybe, let me check the box ….” I mean, for all I knew it could have been earrings! I wasn’t saying yes to earrings! But inside was a gorgeous ring, and I said “Yes!”, but there were no tears.

LMS: Now, cut to us engaged, planning to move in together, and we’re playing Goldilocks in a Sleep Number store in the mall. We’re lying on probably the most expensive bed in the store (and those suckers are NOT cheap) and he said something like “Do you want this bed?” and my poor bad back and shoulders were lying there, gently cushioned in the Number 20 heavenly cloud of a glorified air mattress, and I said “Yes!”, he said “Ok, I will buy you a Sleep Number mattress” and in that moment I might have had to wipe away a tear or two.

asd: were you married very recently?

LMS: It’s not so recent anymore. We’re coming up on our two-year anniversary in September.

asd: tell me about your wedding!

LMS: Our wedding was inspired by the venue. We were married on the porch of the beautiful Hale House at Heritage Square Museum, and we incorporated many elements of home into the wedding design. Im also a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, so Alice was incorporated as well with hints of a mad tea party, pink flamingos, doorknobs, and croquet. It was truly a labor of love. Most of the decor and elements were handmade. And we sourced all of the decor, furniture, and dishes and drove a uHaul to the venue the day before to unload. It was not the smallest uHaul. You can see photos on Style Me Pretty.

asd: get out of town! that is GORGEOUS! (i just used capital letters, so you know i mean it).

LMS: I am a very independent person, I’ve traveled to and lived in other countries by myself, but the last couple of years I’ve spent the majority of my time with my husband since we both work from home and surprisingly we have not yet gotten sick of each other. So while I can totally go places by myself, it has been awesome to have a partner in crime.

asd: i'd love to pick your brain a little bit, going back to instagram, on behalf of people who are new to using the site, and who want to polish up their feeds and make their photos more impactful.

what kind of camera & editing software do you use?

LMS: I am 98% iPhone, and 2% Fujix100s. If the photo is an iPhone photo, I use VSCO and play with the brightness, contrast, and temperature of the photo and sometimes use a filter, but almost never at full 12 level. If I’m using a Fuji camera photo, I edit in Lightroom, play with brightness, contrast, and temperature and then use VSCO to crop it into a 2x2. I also slightly overexpose everything, I just like the slightly blown out look.

asd: me too. i love turning up the exposure, and i can’t even believe what just that little step will do for a photograph.

asd: your instagram gallery feels so beautifully cohesive. how do you edit what you post to make sure your pictures “fit” with each other?

LMS: I’ve been editing my photos since January of this year to make the colors/brightness fit with my other photos. This is really simple to do if editing photos with VSCO since all of my other IG photos are right there in my library ready for comparison.

asd: is there a formula you’re trying to stick to, for example, specific edits or subjects?

LMS: I tend to stick to brights with white, pinks, pastels. I currently only post daylight/daytime photos regardless of how cool the fireworks/sparklers look, or how awesome a vintage neon sign lights up. My photos are almost always in 2x2 squares. My subjects are generally architecture, signs, Disneyland, and little vignettes of home or life that I like.

asd: do you hold back from posting pictures that don’t fit, even if you love them?

LMS: Yes, I hold back from posting photos that don’t fit. If I’m out and about traveling/sightseeing, I generally take about 100-125 photos/day, but I only post 1-3 photos to IG a day.

asd: what has been the most surprising thing you have found on instagram?

LMS: I found that I like following strangers (people who I have never met in real life) and I love the community and friendship that exists between all of these strangers. Using hashtags, you can “meet” someone across the country who has similar likes, tastes, and interests and become friends. I’ve also found a lot of inspiration from some stunning talented photographers who constantly show me places that I want to go or experiences I want to experience for myself.

LMS: Beautiful photos! Also, diverse photos. I’ve unfollowed a few people who keep posting the “same” photo over and over - usually a vignette in their house, or a pool scene, or travel photos. Like, the same photo, but a different angle, a different day, but the same content.

asd: how about using hashtags?

LMS: Use them, but don’t abuse them. I like to limit my hashtags to 3-5 per photo. And I try to sometimes make one a joke.

asd: which ones are your favorites?

LMS: I love #signgeek for all the vintage signs, vintage neons, etc.Any of the Design*Sponge hashtag series like #dslettering, #dssummer, #dscolor, etc.I like #vscocam because of the awesome, random photos.And, I’m also a fan of my #willAndrealikeit series in which I post a food and take a poll of whether or not I will like it, then the next day I show a photo of me eating that food. I’m a picky eater, so my friends really like this one. I’ve only done a couple, but I’m planning on doing more starting next month.

asd: ha! that’s hilarious...i will be looking out for that.

asd: give me, in your opinion, three rules for instagram etiquette.

LMS: I have four rules:1. Don’t be mean.2. Thank people who comment or reply to comments/questions.3. Don’t ask for followers, it is so annoying.4. Post your own photos, or give credit when you regram someone else’s photograph/work.

asd: how about some advice for new bloggers and small business owners. what would you say to someone just starting out?

LMS: Stick with it. Stick to a schedule. Blog regularly. It’s hard, but try to do it.

asd: how do you budget your time between running a small business and keeping up with a blog?

LMS: I don’t. I am totally overwhelmed right now. But I just prioritize and do the best that I can.

asd: ha! glad to know i’m not the only one. any tips for staying blog-organized?

LMS: An editorial calendar. I have a large desk calendar and I stayed up until 3 am about a month ago and planned the next 3 months of my blog. That’s not to say that it won’t change or I won’t edit it, but at least I have a plan.

asd: your bio says that you decided to become an event planner after graduating from law school and passing the bar exam. how did that go over with your family? any regrets?

LMS: My family is very supportive. Life is too short to do something you don’t love. Also, I want to be around and raise my (future hypothetical) kids. I don’t want to work 60-70 hours a week in a law office and never see my family/kids. Of course, I regret my student loans, but a legal education is still useful - I mean, just earlier today I reviewed a contract my husband was asked to sign and told him not to sign it unless there were major revisions.

asd: in a creative job, inspiration is everything. what is your favorite way to be inspired with new ideas?

LMS: My favorite way to stay inspired is through Instagram. I have a folder of screenshots that I take of photos that inspire me - either of places I want to travel to, clothes I need to buy, things I need to make, color palettes I like, etc. Although, I’m also kind of old school and I LOVE magazines. I like to be able to just sit down with a magazine and flip through the pages and not look at a screen. My current favorite magazines are Sunset, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, Real Simple, and the Anthro and J.Crew catalogs (those count as magazines, right?)

asd: those absolutely count as magazines.

asd: can we talk a sec about [the blogging conference] ALT summit? there are a lot of people, like me, who want to go but have no idea what they're getting into. i appreciated that you posted about your experiences so we could be better prepared!

what was the one thing you learned/ saw/ heard/ did there that has had the most lasting impact?

LMS: I think I realized that not all, but A LOT of the speakers/panelists were cases of extremes. The particular speakers/panelists at the ALT conference I attended were bloggers and entrepreneurs who are very successful. And while someone can learn from their hard work and skills, it is important to keep in mind that the success may also be due to luck, such as being in the right place at the right time, or the success of a fad, and you should not be disappointed that your blog or business has not yet achieved the same success. Or basically that quote, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle ...” and especially that middle that just happened to strike gold.

asd: did you meet anyone that was so awesome that i (and the rest of the world) need to know about him or her?

LMS: I met Kim Wardell of Design + Life + Kids and she is awesome! She blogs about modern home decor and she has two gorgeous little girls. She is going through a family tragedy, so go click on her Instagram and send her some hearts.

asd: which speaker did you like best?

LMS: Well, since this is an Instagram based interview, I have to say that the photo styling workshop with House of Brinson was the most informative. I learned a lot of photography tips/tricks. They have a workshop coming up during ALT for Everyone.

asd: what’s your five-year plan?

LMS: I don’t really have one. But in 5 years, I hope I will be just as happy if not happier than I am now with the husband, 2-3 kids, a weiner dog, and a couple of thriving businesses. I also hope to go to Italy or Morocco in the next 5 years. We’ll see.

asd: tell me a little bit about your event planning business.

LMS: My event planning business is The Party Task Force, and I’m just starting out, but I hope to do event planning and styling for weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, bachelor/ette parties, birthday parties, etc. So if you have any friends in Los Angeles and they need help planning, coordinating, styling their wedding, party, or other event, please let me know!

asd: you also have an etsy shop, which has, like, the coolest stuff! where do you find it all?

LMS: That is a trade secret! But I guess the answer is everywhere: flea markets, garage sales, antique stores, thrift stores, etc. I pick things up everywhere I go.

asd: do you think instagram is an important social media for a small business or blogger to be on?

LMS: Yes, of course! I’ve found Etsy shops and new blogs to follow through Instagram!

asd: what is your advice for getting people to find you or your business, and then follow you?

LMS: Gosh, I do not know. I don’t have that many followers really. I think a cohesive style helps, as well as well thought out hashtags, and maybe playing with the Design*Sponge hashtags (which is how I found you!)

asd: does the ‘like’ button on instagram ever make you feel bad?

LMS: No, it never makes me feel bad. The only thing that makes me feel bad is when someone unfollows me. I always wonder if they were only following me to gain followers themselves (a follow for follow type person) or if there was something about my gallery that they didn’t like anymore.

asd: you obviously love travel. what was your favorite trip?

LMS: I’ll always love Paris and France. I might never go back to Australia, Fiji, Curacao, Mexico, the Netherlands, England, or Germany, but I will always go back to Paris and France. Mostly for the delicious baguettes and chocolate eclairs!

asd: where are you going next?

LMS: NYC! I’ve never been. Can you believe it? I’ve traveled all over, but I have never been to New York City. I’m so excited!

asd: pick one of your favorite photos and tell me the story behind it.

LMS: I’m going to do two. I took this photo while running a half marathon. It’s one of my favorite photos and I just happened to catch a surfer with a teal/mint surfboard near an awesome teal/mint VW bus.

LMS: This is another of my favorite photos. This photograph was taken while on my honeymoon. We’re standing in a field in Auvers Sur Oise just outside of Paris where Van Gogh spent his last days. The last painting he did was Wheatfield with Crows, and it is in that wheatfield that I took this photo. I love the wildflowers, the clouds, the colors. It was also just a wonderful day spent in France, exploring an artsy town, with my new husband.

asd: last, and most important, question. why are there so many weird giant statues along the roads in this country??

LMS: Well, if there are four gas stations at one intersection, but one has a giant Muffler Man, or World’s Largest Chile Pepper, or Pistachio, at which one are you going to stop? For me, it’s an easy choice, I just love the kitsch and the campy-ness of roadside attractions.

asd: friend, it is hilarious to me that you had an actual answer to that question.

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i'd like to thank andrea for being my guest today. her instagram is simply delightful and i know you'll enjoy following along with her as much as i do.

and now- the giveaway! simply comment below and tell me what your favorite photo of andrea's is. you'll be entered to win one a 5 x 5 print of your choosing from her etsy shop (valued at $16.95). any united states resident over 18 is eligible (void where prohibited). i'll randomly choose a winner on august 7th. (be sure to comment with how i should reach you...email address or instagram handle, etc). good luck!

and if you're like me and never win anything, good news: you can use the code WOOHOO20 for 20% off any photography print in the shop! how nice is this girl?!

thank you for stopping by to learn a little bit more about andrea and her lovely photos. please join me in wishing her all the best in her new business and adventures ahead.

Monday, July 28, 2014

well, sometimes it happens. you stumble back to a favorite website that you swore you wouldn't look at anymore, because their stuff is so pretty it kinda makes your head want to explode. i didn't want to go there. i blame ryan. he stayed on the rejuvination email list (why?! why would you torture yourself like that?), and found a ceiling fan he really liked through it. naturally the second he started into his first sentence about it i was already typing the web address into my phone. that's when this fan's center plate lit up and sucked my eyeballs out with its tractor beam as it chanted "buy me...buy me."

the good news is, i said no. the bad news is, one thing led to another online and my christmas list doubled in a span of two hours. here are the new additions:

some swanky desk accessories, because i still have office on the brain:

Thursday, July 24, 2014

one of the best things about visiting my husband's family (among the many, many good things) is my mother-in-law's cooking. we're always trying to get her to stop making so much food, because we want to go easy on her, but in my heart i'm hoping she continues to get carried away forever. everything she makes is soooo good. (ahem! almond butter pancakes)! she loves to use fresh organic ingredients which are half the time pulled from her own massive kitchen garden.

one of her specialties is rhubarb cake. i'd be lying if i said i didn't look forward to it when we head home every fourth of july. this year she made it for me twice. (i say "for me" because i'm pretty sure i ate three times more than anyone else). score. her homemade whipped cream with coconut sugar makes it even more amazing. and now that i'm home, i have a solid nine fourth-of-july pounds i need to start losing. hah, you think i exaggerate. no i do not.

pour heavy whipping cream into a kitchenaid and beat on high (or beat with a hand mixer). add coconut sugar as you mix until desired sweetness is achieved. whipped cream is done when it is thick and fluffy. (you know, like, the consistency of whipped cream). serve a dollop on top of each piece of cake.

this is what rhubarb looks like in its plant form. the hot pink stalks are the part you chop up for the cake. the football hanging out among the leaves is how you can tell this is a grandma's garden.

isn't my in-laws kitchen garden idyllic? just outside this shot their grandsons are lovingly watering these plants with their squirt guns. (actually they're trying to decimate an ant hill).

you may be wondering why i have no photos of the actual cake. well, i was too busy eating it to take any. and i'm not going to make it anytime soon (reference the part above about me needing to lose nine pounds), so you'll just have to trust me and go for it.

and if you want enough to go around for your guests, be sure to keep it out of sight of your daughter-in-law.

Monday, July 21, 2014

it's done! construction is done! we started the office project way back in march, and i can finally show you the completed room. (and by completed i mean totally beautifully newly done but not yet decorated. a yummy blank canvas). i'm soooo thrilled with how it turned out. i keep grabbing ryan by the shoulder and shaking him and saying, "i designed this!! with my mind! and you built this!! with your bare hands!!" (seriously, not to brag or anything but we totally nailed it). LOL.

i haven't been good about posting regular updates throughout, mostly because i never really like reading people's posts with just construction pictures. i'm always too confused as to what's actually going on to be excited. (i don't have good spacial reasoning skills). but then, it was a blog fail for sure because isn't having people follow along with your project the whole point of blogging? (sorry peeps, i'll figure it out). i did at least throw up some along-the-way pics on twitter and IG! that counts for something, right?

anyways, it's all here. the progression and the now.

{oh! and i'm definitely working on a tutorial for how we pulled off this built-in bookcase ikea hack, so stay tuned for that!}

here is the concept drawing i did when we started:

and here it is, 5 months later, come to life!

let's take a look at where this room began:

the picture above is from when we were house hunting. it is the view into what was a dining room. it was taken standing in the kitchen. so, when i eat breakfast, this is my view as i'm sitting at the table. shortly after moving in, we turned the room into a school room because i started homeschooling my then kindergartner:

here is what you saw when you came in the front entry of our house and stood in the foyer:

walk through this room to the left and you'll be in our kitchen. does that make sense? here is the view of the corner where my desk will now be (back through that doorway and you'll be in our foyer again):

here are some floor plans for ya. naturally, i laid them on the table in the wrong order for this picture. the one below is how the walls were originally. the one above is how we are changing the walls over the course of this project:

wow, i drew those all the way back in january. that was a long time ago. (and obviously i changed my mind on the office furniture layout)! our first step was to build a new wall, and in doing so, shrink the size of the room on the right by about 5 feet.

ryan was very proud of his new wall. once it was up, we started lining it with bookcases. the short version is, we built cages for the top and bottom out of 2 x 4's and attached the bookcases in between, centering all five of them on the wall. drywall filled in the space around them, and we added trim to the top and bottom, baseboard, and a crown moulding. then the whole thing was painted the same glossy white. and anytime i say "we" and i'm referring to construction, i mean ryan.

in addition to building the bookcase wall, we narrowed the doorway from the foyer to 3' instead of 4. this will give us more wall space in the finished office. we also changed out all the baseboards, beefed up the window trim, added new door trim to both entryways, installed 4" pot lights in the ceiling, added sconces above the bookcase, and wired the ceiling for a center fixture. we aren't sure if we'll use that last one, but it's always good to have the option of adding a statement fixture when you're done. like the one in this original concept option:

ignore the part where i totally can't draw a table in 3D. here are some views as we were adding the doors and finishing touches to the bookcases (because you know i couldn't wait for construction to be done to unpack, at least a little):

ryan pulled off hardwiring those ikea ranarp sconces without a hitch. i'll post a tutorial on that soon too.

i even put my new desk half together just to make sure it fits. it does, yay! the bottom cabinets have tons of wonderful (closed!!) storage. it feels soooooo good to finally have an organized home for all of our school stuff, art stuff, file stuff...and stuff!

i'm planning to get a more sophisticated labeling system soon. that'll be part of the design plan. :)

all of our bins and baskets are from the dollar store. the magazine files are $2 for a 5 pack at ikea. after spending all our money on construction, the last thing i wanted to do was drop a boat load on bins. these couldn't fit more perfectly, and i'm happy with how they look too! espeically now that it's my daughter's turn for kindergarten, it's fun to have a little girly pink organizing the school supplies.

this picture shows you the new window trim and baseboards, and the lovely and oh so fresh white walls:

almost there:

there's my view from the kitchen table as this was finishing up. i always sit in this spot. (do you have "spots" at your house)? i spend a lot of time these days here just staring through that doorway. i love built in cabinets! and soon there will be a table in the office where all this coloring will be taking place.

and here are the final results:

so what do you think??

i'm so happy it's finished! we had budgeted $1,000 for this room and it ended up costing $2,000. (honestly that's such a shocking number to me. i can't believe how things add up when it's all said and done). this means i have $0 left to fill it with pretty accessories (and why all my other projects have a $0 budget right now). so that'll be interesting. my office wish list will have to be on hold until santa can bring it, and for now i will be shopping the basement. it also means our mudroom and powder room budgets will take a hit. but hey, i'm all for a creative challenge. makes for more interesting blog posts, right?!

for now, i kinda don't want to do anything with it...just leave it this bright, empty, uncluttered space. it makes for a great dance floor, and it echoes!